Here are two group shots I made on the last day of filming of Endeavour 5, episode 4 at the HQ. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with them all and I’m glad we managed to find the time to fit this in.

Behind the scenes during late night filming of Endeavour series 5 episode 4 in Oxford. This was a tricky little set up that took quite a bit of planning, rehearsing and lighting to transform what is usually a very dark street. You can see in some of the earlier shots how dark the background is compared to when the bright background light was switched on to give a wash of light across the fronts of the buildings.

On my first visit to Endeavour HQ the crew weren’t using the interior CID set on the day I was there so it wasn’t lit. I was fortunate enough to visit a second time when there was a day of filming taking place in the CID set on a different episode so I have pictures from that which I am working my way through. Here are some shots from my first roll of the day. On this occasion I decided to use a lens that hasn’t had much use for quite a while (35/1.2 Voigtlander Nokton), mainly because it’s designed for very low light levels and also because it’s quite big and heavy and not the kind of lens you want to be carrying around all day when there is plenty of light. The other reason is because I have taken quite a shining to the 40/1.4 Voigtlander Nokton which is tiny in comparison.

Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour series 5 episode 3 in Oxford. It was a very hot day in July and the crew had a very busy schedule as I recall because they were only in Oxford for one day on this occasion. I decided to use colour film for a change to capture the summery feel. It’s not often you see the lighting crew setting up lights outside in bright sun but I must say it did make the front of the Jaguar look nice.

If you’ve ever travelled around the back streets of Oxford at night you’ll know how dark they are but that all changes when the Endeavour crew come to town. With a few well placed lights they can completely transform a place as you can see here in Lamb and flag passage – a place usually so dark you could easily bump into someone without too much effort. The first couple of shots are from a very quick setup in Radcliffe Square which were at the start of this roll. For the night shots I was frequently dropping my shutter speed to 1/15th and 1/8th to prevent the shadows from plugging up and I have to say how impressed I am with my Leica M6 because although there’s no mirror inside to cause camera shake the cloth shutter does move in the back of the camera but the body is so solid that vibration is next to none at all. Of course steady hands are required to avoid camera shake but having a solid camera body does help a lot. More pictures to come after the episode is broadcast some time in 2018. No spoilers.

Behind the scenes photography during the filming of Endeavour series 5 episode 4 in Oxford. There was interesting looking equipment being used in this setup but I’m afraid I don’t know the correct technical name for the large ARRI crane. I’ve picked out the most spoiler-free shots, others will follow after the episode has been broadcast some time in 2018. Most exciting for me was the sight of old cameras being used!

The Endeavour crew were back in Oxford for a few days of filming for episode 4 of series 5 and I did some behind the scenes photography. Here are some shots from Exeter college where they were mostly doing interior scenes. I’ll share some of the interior pictures after the episode has been broadcast – no spoilers! For these shots I was trying out a film I don’t often use – Ilford Delta 100. The day was sunny and bright but most of the action was in the shade and I struggled with sufficient depth of field on some of these shots. Next time I’ll stick with Hp5. The last shot on this roll is from Radcliffe Square where a short scene was filmed. The big light on the scaffolding provided a little rim light.

Here are some test shots from a roll of Kodak HIE high speed b&w infrared film that expired in 1990. I think it’s been frozen since purchase but I can’t be sure so I bracketed my exposures widely erring on the overexposure side which turned out not to be necessary. I rated the film at ISO 10 and used a B+W 093 filter which is around 5 stops in density which is too dense to look through so for that reason I decided to use a rangefinder camera which meant I wouldn’t need to keep removing the filter to compose my shots. Out came my M2.

Behind the scenes photography during the filming of Endeavour Series 5 episode 2 when the crew were in the Covered Market in Oxford. There was an impressive lighting setup for this which I guess was to simulate sunlight coming through the windows. I have some other pictures that I will post after the episode has been broadcast to avoid any spoilers but to be honest I stayed outside the café the whole time so I managed to avoid spoilers for myself.

Behind the scenes photography during filming of Endeavour series 5 episode 2 in Oxford. I’ve carefully selected a spoiler-free set of images from this roll, others will follow once the episode has been broadcast in 2018. The film I used here is Eastman Double X motion picture film which I usually develop in Kodak D76 but I don’t have any of that mixed at the moment so on this occasion I used HC-110. I’ve previously used HC-110 at 1+31 dilution with Double X but I find the contrast is too high for my liking so here I’ve experimented with a 1+62 dilution and I much prefer these results.

The last time the OWP skate park held a BMX Jam event was 2015 and here are some pictures from that event that I just found in my archive. I don’t manage to get over to the skate park as often as I’d like for photography but whenever they hold an event – whether that’s BMX or skateboarding – I always do my best to make it. Some of these guys can be a tricky bunch to photograph because they tend to be camera shy but I do my best to stay out of the way to record some candid moments and hopefully they’ll now see the value of documentary photography at an event such as this, two years later. More to come.

Last weekend I visited a war and peace reenactment event in Kent and here are some of my first pictures I made there. Most of the other film I shot there was colour so those pictures will follow in the future. The event was spread over a huge area of fields that usually make up a camping ground but it was easy enough to walk around. Weather in the morning was fine but in the afternoon rain clouds rolled in very quickly and rain stopped play – for me at least – which was a shame as it was right after having discovered the home front village which had a little street scene that had been recreated complete with a row of shops and a fully functioning barber!